EXHIBIT H.
The memorial of Lawrence Magnus Furman to the Department of State, respectfully shows:
That said Lawrence M. Furman is now, and was at the time when the claim hereinafter set forth had its origin, a regularly naturalized citizen of the United States, and that he is unable to produce herewith a duly certified copy of the record of his naturalization, but will hereafter produce the same if required; that he is now, and was at the time when the claim hereinafter set forth had its origin, a resident of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, and a duly qualified and registered voter therein.
That said Lawrence M. Furman claims from the Russian Government the sum of $25,000, being the entire sum hereby claimed; this claimant believes that the sum so claimed would not reimburse him for the loss and damage sustained by him from the wrongful acts of the authorities of the Russian Government hereinafter set forth, and that this claimant has received no money or other equivalent or indemnification from insurance or otherwise for the whole or any part of the loss or injury upon which this claim is founded.
That the said claim is based upon the following facts and circumstances, to wit:
That I, the said Lawrence M. Furman, on the 7th day of May, A. D. 1892, was the duly acting and qualified master of the American schooner C. H. White, belonging to the Eagle Fishing Company, of San Francisco, Cal., which said vessel on said [Page 234] day cleared from the said port of San Francisco for a hunting and fishing voyage in the North Pacific Ocean, having at the time all the necessary and legal papers on board, as will more fully and at large appear by the memorial, and papers in support thereof, of said Eagle Fishing Company on file in this Department, and that on the said day I with said vessel and a good and sufficient crew did set sail and depart from said port of San Francisco, bound for the North Pacific Ocean, said vessel being at that time and at all times hereinafter mentioned seaworthy and in all respects fit for the voyage which it took, as herein mentioned. I proceeded with said vessel and crew on my voyage without disaster of any kind until the 15th day of July, A. D. 1892, and that prior to said day, and in the open Pacific Ocean, more than 30 miles south of the Aleutian Islands, and not in Russian waters, had caught 8 barrels of mackerel and 1 ton of codfish, and had killed 20 seals, all of which were caught and killed on the voyage from San Francisco, and more than 30 miles south of the Aleutian Islands, and not in Russian waters; that about the 12th day of July, A. D. 1892, I, being then fishing about 40 miles south of Agattou Island, one of the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Japan, intending to fish there, and then finding that my chronometer was out, wanted to sight land to correct the chronometer, and, accordingly, deviated from my course or route to the Kurile Islands for the purpose of sighting either Copper or Bering Island, to correct my chronometer, and on the 15th day of July arrived at latitude 54° 18’ north, longitude 167° 19’ east, by correct observation, and had not fished or sealed in said place nor at any place within 50 miles thereof, or in Russian waters at all; and the wind being light, but the vessel sailing on its course as aforesaid, and no boats being out from said vessel, either for hunting or fishing, and neither I nor anyone from said vessel being either hunting or fishing.
Said latitude 54° 18’ north, longitude 167° 19’ east, is by correct observation measured by me on the United States Coast Survey chart No. 900 more than 80 miles from Copper or Bering Islands, on the high seas, and not in Russian waters; when at the same time, and in the same latitude and longitude above mentioned, on the 15th day of July, A. D. 1892, as aforesaid, and not being at the time hunting or fishing, and not having at any time fished or hunted seals in Russian waters, but being at said time on my course for the Kurile Islands as aforesaid, the said schooner was boarded by an officer from the Russian war cruiser Zabiaca, which said war cruiser Zabiaca was at all times herein mentioned a steamer regularly commissioned as a war cruiser, and belonging to the Russian Government, armed for offensive and defensive warfare, and acting under the authority and by the directions of the said Russian Government; and I was by said officer ordered to come on board of said cruiser with all the schooner’s papers; and I accordingly went on board, and the captain of said cruiser, after examining the schooner’s papers, had all the crew of said schooner brought on board of said cruiser, and I, with all the crew of said schooner, was then and there arrested, and I was compelled by the officers of said cruiser to sign a paper in Russian language, which I do not understand, under threat of being sent to Siberia, and was kept on said cruiser as prisoner by the officers thereof until the cruiser arrived at Petropaulovsky, on the 20th day of July, A. D. 1892; I was kept confined in a room of said cruiser without bedclothes or any change of clothing, although I demanded my personal effects from the officers of the cruiser, which demand was refused by them.
The said cruiser, with me and the rest of the crew as prisoners, and with the schooner C. H. White in tow, set sail for Nicholovsky Bay, where we arrived on the 16th day of July, A. D. 1892. During the day and night which elapsed prior to our arrival at Nicholovsky Bay I was kept in the above-mentioned room without any bedclothes or any clothing whatever except those I had on, and was compelled to keep the doors and windows open; the weather during that night was cold and foggy, and I then and there, from the cruel and unnecessary exposure, caught cold, from which, owing to the exposure above and the exposure and ill treatment and lack of food and medicines hereinafter complained of, I have never recovered.
Upon our arrival at Nicholovsky Bay I was permitted to go on board the C. H. White, under the charge of an armed guard, for the purpose of getting my personal effects. I then took possession of my effects with the exception of the following articles, to wit: One chronometer, valued at $125; 1 pair of marine glasses, valued at $25; 1 aneroid barometer, valued at $7; 1 thermometer, valued at $1; 1 lot of charts, valued at $25; 1 lot of nautical books, valued at $15; 1 silver watch and gold chain, valued at $40; 7 razors, valued at $15; 1 coal-oil stove and utensils, valued at $3; 1 pair of rubber boots, valued at $5; 1 lot of clothing, valued at $25; 2 shotguns, valued at $96; 2 rifles, valued at $32; which I was informed and believe, and therefore allege, to have been stolen by the officers and crew of the said Zabiaca, and which I then and there demanded from the officers of the said cruiser, but which were not then nor afterwards returned to me.
[Page 235]On my return to the Zabiaca, under guard, I was so sick from the exposure hereinabove complained of that I went to bed and asked to see the doctor, and saw him, but he refused to give me any medicine. I then asked to see any of my crew, but was informed that I could not see or speak with or communicate with any of my crew, but was permitted to send through a Russian sailor to my steward, who made me some flaxseed tea, which was all the medicine I could get while suffering from the cold and fever brought on by the exposure complained of; and during my detention on the Zabiaca I could procure no suitable food; and from said exposure, lack of food, brutal treatment, and lack of medicine I suffered great mental and physical pain and agony, and was confined to my bed during the balance of the voyage to Petropaulovsky, at which port we arrived on the 20th day of July, A. D. 1892, as hereinbefore stated. Upon our arrival at said port I was, notwithstanding my sickness, compelled by the Russian officers to go on shore and get along as best I could.
Upon landing I went to the governor of Petropaulovsk and demanded assistance. The governor allowed 15 kopecks—worth about 7 cents United States money—per diem for the support of the crew, and I was informed we were all prisoners, and that was all that would be allowed. I then asked for shelter for myself and men, but the only shelter given for my crew, consisting of 10 white men and 4 Indians, together with 24 other men belonging to other vessels which had been seized by the Russians, was a room 10 feet by 18 feet, with a leaky roof and broken windows. I, finding that the Russian officials would not provide other shelter for me, and being then sick, as aforesaid, and fearing death from exposure, asked the master of the American bark Majestic, then in port with coal for the Russian Fur Company, for assistance, but he had no spare room, and I obtained permission from him to sleep in the hatch house of the vessel, which was a small room erected at the hatchway, and was about 6 feet square by 6 feet high, and intended for keeping tools, etc. I slept in said hatch house until my arrival at Port Townsend, as hereinafter set forth. The 15 kopecks per day allowed me by the Russian officials would only then purchase at Petropaulovsk one-half of a loaf of bread, which was insufficient to sustain life. I was therefore, having no money, compelled to beg a meal here and there to keep me alive, but was not even by that means enabled to get sufficient food to keep me from suffering from hunger.
I, with my crew, was kept at Petropaulovsk prisoner as aforesaid until the 8th day of August, A. D. 1892, suffering all the time from the sickness above set forth, and being, during all said period, unable to procure sufficient food or proper treatment. I have been suffering physically ever since, and I am now informed by my physician that I shall probably never fully recover my health.
On the 8th day of August, A. D. 1892, the Russian officials informed me that the master of the American bark Majestic would make arrangements to take us from Petropaulovsk; accordingly I, and the masters of the other vessels which had been seized by the Russians, made arrangements with the master of the said Majestic to take us with our respective crews—amounting in all to 84 men—to some United States or British port, and we then and there signed a statement of our condition and a request to our respective Governments to pay the owners of said Majestic for our passage. The Russian officials then allowed us an amount of beans, flour, salt beef, tea, coffee, and sugar, which would equal about two-thirds of the shortest allowance of each which would be permitted by the United States shipping laws, and ordered us all on board the Majestic, which said vessel carried us to Port Townsend, at which port we arrived on the 31st day of August, A. D. 1892.
During the time I was on board said Majestic I was on short allowance, and suffering much from exposure to the weather consequent on insufficient shelter.
I, as master of said schooner C. H. White, duly protested at the time to the captain of the Russian cruiser Zabiaca against the seizure of said vessel, and at the time protested against each and all of the inhuman and cruel acts by the Russian officials hereinbefore complained of, and duly noted a protest on the 5th day of August, A. D. 1892, to the Russian governor of Petropaulovsk, and I, on the 31st day of August, A. D. 1892, duly made a regular marine protest against said seizure and acts hereinbefore complained of to James G. Swan, a notary public in and for Port Townsend, State of Washington, United States of America, immediately upon my arrival at said city, and said city being the first place in the United States at which I arrived.
That the seizure of said schooner C. H. White and all of the cruel and inhuman acts of the officers of the Russian war cruiser Zabiaca and by the Russian officials committed upon me were in violation of the law of nations and of my rights as a citizen of the United States, and in contravention to the treaties existing between the United States and Russia, and that this claim is founded upon the principles of international law and the rights which every nation and every person has upon the [Page 236] high seas, and upon the fact that all the above-mentioned acts by the Russian Government and its officials were in violation thereof.
Wherefore, I hereby request the interposition of the Government of the United States of America against the Russian Government for the presentation of this claim against said Russian Government.
[seal.]
State of California, City and County of San Francisco, ss:
Lawrence M Furman, being duly sworn, says: I am the person making and subscribing the above memorial to the” Department of State.
I have read the foregoing memorial, and know the contents thereof; the same is true of my own knowledge, except as to those matters which are therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters I believe it to be true.
[seal.]
Notary Public in and for the City and County of San Francisco, State of California.